If you're looking for livestock that require little land and little feed, that don't make noise, don't kick and are easy to move around, then maybe you'd fancy life as a snail farmer.

Mirboo North couple Doug and Vinnie have been farming snails for just over 18 months. The pair estimate they have about 20,000 little gastropods on the go which they retail to high-end restaurants. But they say at this stage it's really just a hobby.

Doug says the reason for choosing snail-farming over more conventional types of livestock rearing is simple:

"We're on a small property, we won't make any money out of beef, or lamb, or potatoes on a small property, so we have to have small animals."